Improved mode of rendering safes, vaults



BENJAMIN SHERWOOD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 86,106, dated January 19,1869.

IMPROVED MODE OI RENDERING SAFES, VAULTS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES FIRE- PROOF.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the some.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 'I, BENJAMIN SHERWOOD, of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a Process for the Preservation of Fire- Proof Safes, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide such security against fire as will be in general, and for all practical purposes, nearly if not quite absolute.

My plan is to employ means of deadening fire and preventing combustion, which are used in such a mannor as to begin to operate chiefly as the casing or ordinary filling ceases to exercise protection of the contents of the safe.

Such means consist of one or more collections in bulk, in one or more localities within the safe, of a susbtanoe or substances which are capable of giving oh vapor or gas when heated to a given degree, the same being placed near the books and other contents of the safe, isolated from the walls, and held so by suit able vessel or vessels, inavhioh it is contained, (though this isolation may be omitted,) which vessel or vessels, and contents thereof, both or either, I term the reservo1r or reservoirs.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe the same.

I construct mysafe in any usual manner, as regards the frame and walls. The filling may be of any ordinarg kind, such as, for example, calcined gypsum, mixed wit water, and poured in between the casings, as commonly practised.

Inside of the safe I place a vessel or receptacle, of about the dimensions, laterally, of the bottom of the book-case, and in depth or thickness about double that of the walls of the safe, more or less. I also provide other vessels placed vertically as partitions in the book? case. The object of so placing them is to have them removed as far as possible from the action of the external heat.

These vessels or reservoirs I fill with gas or steamproducing substance or substances, such as water, or alum, or their equivalents; if with alum, by melting and pouring it in'when in a fluid state, or otherwise, according to choice. 7

When filled, these vessels and their contents are, for all practical purposes, as applied to safes, reservoirs of water, either in a solid state or otherwise, and when acted on by heat, will give oif steam or gas, preventing combustion.

Alum, however, has this great advantage over water in a simple state, that whereas alum requires a temperature of about 212 Fahrenheit before it will begin to melt, water will commence to evaporate at a temperature of 50, and less, so that, under like circumstances, the same bulk of water, in any ordinary accident of fire, is liable to escape in vapor, and leavethe safe exhausted of moisture during the interval of time required for the elevation of the temperature to the point where the alum would begin to yield.

Other substances may be used which will give ofl' vapors or gases when heated, but alum, according to my experience, is best.

As I have heretofore stated, my object is to employ these masses of alum, or other gas or vapor-producing substances, as a reserve force to be brought into requisition when theordinary' means of protection are ceasing to exercise their influence. I therefore provide for keeping these reservoirs cool as long as possible, and for that purpose I surround them with filling, so that they shall be isolated from the walls of the safe, and remain unaflected thereby during the incipient stages of the heat.

Each reservoir has apertures arranged so as to lead the vapor escaping therefi'om directly intothe interior of the safe.

These apertures are covered with felt, or other like porous material, capable of preventing-the filling of the reservoirs from flowing away, but without obstructing the'emission of the steam or gas.

7 To prolong the endurance of the reservoirs when finally required to act, I have or may arrange the apere tures in one of the horizontal reservoirs, so.that the escape of the steam or-g'as therefrom will influencethe resisting material, that is capable of giving off vaporsor gases when the ordinary fire-proofing of the safe is exhausted by the heat.

2. Enclosing the mass of material or materials constituting said reserved fire-resisting power in a close and separate vessel or vessels, in order to prevent the.

same or any pait thereof from flowing away when fluid, or when rendered fluid by the heat.

3. Providing such vessels with one or more apertures opening to or connecting with the book-case, so as to insure the passage of the vapor or gas from the vessels into the interior of the safe.

4. Covering the apertures with felt or other porous substance, to prevent the escape of the liquid without obstructing the escape of the vapor or gas.

5. Arranging the reservoirs, one or more, so that they shall be protected and screened from the heat, in orderthat their power shall be reserved, and not begin to act until the outer or ordinary filling shall have been overcome or exhausted of its moisture.

6. The arrangement of the reservoirs both in a horizontal and a vertical position, for thc'purposes specified.

7. The arrangement of one of the reservoirs and its aperture for the escape of steam or gas, in such relation to the others that such steam or gas escaping shall tend to cause the other vessels to retain their moisture for a longer time, as described.

BENJAMIN SHERWOOD.

Witnesses DANIEL FIT GERALD, J. M. MASON. 

